HIV and Disability Law

“The Vatican felt the heat from an unprecedented amount of international condemnation last week after Pope Benedict XVI made an outrageous and wildly inaccurate statement about HIV/AIDS,” a Lancet editorial says. It adds that the Roman Catholic Church’s “ethical opposition to birth control and support of marital fidelity and abstinence in HIV prevention is [...]

Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have introduced a bill
(H.R. 1616) to allow states to expand Medicaid coverage to
low-income HIV-positive people, CQ HealthBeat reports. The bill
would permit states to change their Medicaid eligibility
policies to increase access to early and cost-effective HIV
treatment before the virus progresses to AIDS, Engel said [...]

Older HIV-positive adults have richer and more satisfying social support and less depression than younger HIV-positive adults, according to a study published online March 11 in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
Researchers have been concerned about the consequence of aging in people living with HIV. In particular, given increased reports of social isolation in [...]

Together Rx Access, a multicompany collaborative patient assistance program that provides discounts on prescription drugs for people without health insurance, has widened its eligibility criteria so that 90 percent of uninsured Americans will qualify.
As the number of uninsured Americans has risen in the past decade, so has the number of people living with HIV who [...]

The Chicago Tribune on Wednesday examined a CDC-funded program
in four Chicago hospitals that offers no-cost HIV tests to
emergency department patients. CDC in 2007 gave $35 million in
grants to 23 state and local health departments to implement the
no-cost HIV testing programs with a goal of testing one million
people, particularly blacks who account for about 50% of [...]

The Miami Herald on Monday examined efforts to improve HIV/AIDS
knowledge among young people and combat the stigma associated
with the disease. According to the Herald, the effectiveness of
modern antiretroviral drugs has created the perception among
some young people that HIV/AIDS is not a fatal condition.
Charles Martin, director of the South Beach AIDS Project, said,
“In the ’80s, you’d [...]

“The FY09 Omnibus Appropriations bill is a mixed bag for domestic HIV/AIDS”, commented Carl Schmid, Director of Federal Affairs for The AIDS Institute. “While we are pleased to see some increased funding for care and treatment in the Ryan White HIV Program, we are very disappointed that Congress is flat funding domestic HIV prevention at [...]

The Boston Globe reports that President Obama today named the person who will coordinate federal efforts on HIV/AIDS.
Jeffrey S. Crowley, MPH, Senior Research Scholar at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute, will be director of the Office of National AIDS Policy.
“Jeffrey Crowley brings the experience and expertise that will help our nation address the ongoing HIV/AIDS [...]

GlaxoSmithKline’s recent announcement that it plans to reduce drug prices in some low-income countries and share information on patented drugs is “welcome” but not a “radical departure from standard fare,” Tido von Schoen-Angerer — director of Medecins Sans Frontieres’ Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines — writes in an opinion piece in London’s Guardian. According [...]

The international AIDS community is buzzing with anxiety over
unconfirmed reports that the Obama administration may hold down
American financing for international AIDS programs that need
greatly increased support,” a New York Times editorial says,
adding “We hope that the new budget blueprint to be released
this week will leave enough room to grant these and other vital
health programs the [...]